Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

In debating this referendum, which was signalled as far back as June 2002 in An Agreed Programme for Government, it is incumbent on politicians on all sides to give leadership. In June we will go to the polls to vote in the local and European elections. We will vote electronically. Things have changed and often we fail to see changes happening around us. In the last decade we have witnessed an economic revolution that has changed our country utterly, from our standards of living to our expectations.

We are now part of one of the world's largest economic blocs. By the time we vote on this referendum we will be part of an economic bloc of 25 countries, bound together intrinsically by ever strengthening economic and social ties. This is for the better, because Europe has been a seedbed for war for centuries and these wars have engulfed nations and the world. As the saying goes, the European Union is precisely what it says on the tin. It is a European Union of nations so tightly bound together that war is unthinkable and peace is the common bond. In our previous existence as an outpost of Europe we suffered as a lone famine state, and even as a new nation, our growth and potential was economically dependent on our near neighbour.

In the past few decades our economy has grown dramatically, society has changed shape, our political landscape has matured and Ireland of the welcomes has become multi-cultured. We should remember that most non-nationals living in Ireland have come here properly documented and they share in and contribute to Ireland's economic success. We are delighted to have them here, to share in their vision for their new country and to welcome them and help them establish themselves permanently here, if that is what they want. Our civilisation has adjusted and adapted and that process of change and modification must and will continue.

In the new confident world where barriers and borders are crossed by invisible lines of communication, where trade is global and politics are played out on the world stage, we should reach out across our borders to embrace change and the people who can provide it, embrace new ways of life, new cultures and new visions. We have a duty of care to adapt and change, but not at the expense of our citizens. We have a duty to protect our citizens and it would be remiss and negligent of us to do otherwise. Our critics would be swift and correct in chiding us.

This is the reason this Government proposes to amend the Constitution. It wishes to restore to the Oireachtas the power to legislate on the future acquisition of Irish nationality and citizenship of persons born in Ireland neither of whose parents is, or is entitled to be, an Irish citizen. This proposal will bring us into line with other European Union member states, in a Union where borders, like the unwanted differences between us, will become invisible.

Perhaps we need to pause for a moment and consider what it means to be a citizen and what it means to hold citizenship. Citizenship is a highly valued commodity. It is the complex manifestation of rights and obligations shared by a people of a common nationality whose people value membership of that nation.

Currently, it is possible for a person with no real connection with Ireland to arrange to give birth to a child in Ireland, North or South, and that child automatically acquires an entitlement to Irish citizenship and the benefits that attach to this citizenship.

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